Internal audits collate facts about the functions and processes in an organization so as to gauge the extent to which standards are being met. Organizations undertake internal audits before the external audits done by registrars for the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, before issuing a certificate of compliance. The ISO does not require checklists, but organizations conducting internal audits use checklists as a guide to addressing human resource issues within the organizations. No single checklist is universally applicable; organizations create their own checklist tweaked to their specific industry.

Standards

The ISO 9000 family regards the international standards applicable to quality management systems or QMS in an organization. The ISO quality management standards have eight principles, including a resource management standard. Human resources fall under the broad category of the resource management principle, which provides a blueprint against which quality management systems pertaining to employees are evaluated. According to ISO 9001:2008, clause 6, employees of an organization must have the skills and competencies needed in the production and provision of quality products and services.

Competence

Internal audit questions for human resources evaluate the competencies of the employees. Every employee involved in the production process must demonstrate competencies that enable the product being produced to conform to product requirements set by ISO standards of product quality. Audit questions focus on whether the employee has skills, knowledge and sufficient experience to meet product quality requirements.

Training

Internal audits ask human resources staff questions such as: What type of training does the organization offer? How frequently is the training conducted? Is the training evaluated before and after? Is the training documented? ISO 9001: 2008 requires that personnel be trained on areas that improve performance and conform to product quality requirements. Internal auditors may use indicators to assess the effectiveness of training of employees. For example, an audit report may list "shown" to indicate an employee has received training; "competent" for average performance; and "able" to indicate that the employee performs remarkably.

Awareness

Internal audit questions of human resources must focus on whether employees understand their duties, as this awareness is critical in the production of quality products and services. An internal audit must also evaluate the extent to which the personnel are aware of the company's quality objectives and standards. A lack of awareness of these factors hinders the production of products that meet the local and international quality standards

About the Author

Diana Wicks is a Canadian residing in Vancouver. She began writing in 2004 while still a student at Lincoln School of Journalism, in the city of London. She has worked as Chief Editor of Business Chronicle, an online magazine based in London. Wicks holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in journalism and a Master of Business Administration from the London School of Economics.

Have Feedback?

Thank you for providing feedback to our Editorial staff on this article. Please fill in the following information so we can alert the Small Business editorial team about a factual or typographical error in this story. All Fields are required.